1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new process for the production of organic amines containing aliphatically and/or cycloaliphatically bound primary amino groups, to polyamine mixtures based on N,N',N"-tris-(6-aminohexyl)-isocyanurate and its higher homologs and to the use of these mixtures as hardeners for polymer precursors containing epoxide or isocyanate groups.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The production of primary amines by the hydrolytic decomposition of the isocyanate groups of the corresponding isocyanates is known. Thus, a process for the production of amino-terminated prepolymers from the corresponding NCO prepolymers is described, for example, in EP-A-0 284 887 and EP-A-0 285 948. Both NCO prepolymers contain aliphatically bound isocyanate groups and NCO prepolymers containing aromatically bound isocyanate groups are disclosed as starting materials in these publications, although NCO prepolymers containing aromatically bound isocyanate groups are preferred. In fact, the process according to these prior publications cannot be applied in practice to NCO prepolymers containing aliphatically bound isocyanate groups because unusable product mixtures are formed with poor amine yields as a result of a number of secondary reactions.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process for the production of organic amines containing a aliphatically bound amine groups from the corresponding organic isocyanates which do not suffer from these defects.
This object has been achieved in accordance with the present invention which relates to a new process for the production of organic amines containing aliphatically and/or cycloaliphatically bound primary amino groups from the corresponding isocyanates. In accordance with this process various primary amines and, in particular, polyamines may be produced in excellent yields. More particularly, the process according to the invention, which is described in detail hereinafter, makes it possible for the first time to produce polyamine mixtures which consist essentially of N,N',N"-tris(6-aminohexyl)-isocyanurate and its higher homologs. These particular polyamine mixtures are particularly valuable hardeners for polymer precursors containing epoxide or isocyanate groups.